the junior high school in Ya’an, a city in Sichuan province, had asked parents to pay an “appreciation fee” of at least 1,200 yuan ($180) for teachers who work overtime giving classes on the weekends.

Public schools in China are supposed to be free during the compulsory education period from first to ninth grade. Many do charge small administrative fees of up to a few hundred yuan, but a sum of more than 1,000 is unusual...

Yuan Honglin’s career as one of China’s foremost homeschooling advocates began when his daughter’s kindergarten teacher said 3-year-old Xiaoyi didn’t interact much with the other children, and might need psychological care. Feeling both shocked and skeptical, Yuan decided to take his daughter out of school and teach her himself.

Afraid that being away from her peers would only exacerbate his daughter’s anxiety, Yuan organized free home-based classes that other children could join. Now, 14 years later, the classes have evolved into a small but popular school, and his daughter is an outgoing and confident 18-year-old. “The great educator Confucius proposed that we should teach according to a student’s abilities,” Yuan, who holds a Ph.D. in history, tells Sixth Tone. “But in the official education system in this country, the same teaching method is strictly replicated for all students. As a father, I should strive to offer the most suitable education for my children.”

...Institutes like Yuan’s are known in China as sishu. They are commonly small-scale, home-based organizations that, in contrast to public and private schools, are unlicensed and thus illegal.

Moreover, China’s Law on Compulsory Education states that all children must be in school for nine years, starting from the age of 6. This law was rarely enforced, but in September, China’s cabinet, the State Council, reiterated that sishu are against the law. The authority requires schools to report parents who withdraw their children during the compulsory education period, which lasts through primary and middle school. Last month, a township government in the southwestern province of Yunnan sued the parents of five children who had dropped out of school — and the provincial government said Sunday that it will include dropout rates in local officials’ performance evaluations.